Growing Child Mortality in Pakistan

According to a report presented by the British based organization-Save the children, Pakistan has the highest rate of first day deaths and stillbirths at 40.7 per 1,000 births. Moreover in Pakistan, fewer than half of women have a skilled health worker present at birth. Their access to proper clinics or health facilities throughout the pregnancy and at the time of labor is highly limited. And those kids who somehow survive during delivery die before the age of 5 mostly from preventable causes. Child mortality still remains one of the greatest shames of our modern world. Our country especially is in a dire need of such governmental and health reforms that are aimed at providing better medical facilities, immunization, nutrition, adequate knowledge and most importantly financial aid to expectant mothers in order to save thousands of Pakistani children from dying a pointless death just because of the lack of proper vaccinations or because a trained medical worker was not available at the time of birth.

A few decades ago Finland also suffered from similar crises. In fact 65 out of every 1000 babies died. So to cope up with this problem the government started sending out some card board boxes to all the expectant mothers free of cost. Each box contained everything a newborn needs like clothing, outerwear, diapers, toys, books and the bottom of the box was a mattress. Also they added bra pads, tampons and condoms to suits the mother’s needs. All the women had to do was to visit a certified doctor after four months of pregnancy to get the box.

Thus this proved to be a genius idea because not only it provided everything a baby needs in the first few months but it steered new mothers towards prenatal care. And now Finland has the lowest child mortality rate according to UN.

So following the example of Finland, Pakistan could also work towards decreasing the child mortality rate. The government could provide all the clinics and hospitals with these maternity kits so that they can be dispatched to women who come for their monthly check up since conception. There the medical staff could also educate the parents regarding proper mother and baby care. Also if active measures are taken, with the help of charitable organizations significant discounts could be provided for low income families when it comes to delivery and maternity services. So that every single child born in this country could get proper care and attention and parents do not have to suffer the loss of their new born just because they didn’t have enough money to get to a good maternity clinic at the time of the birth.